With virtually all computers today connected to some sort of network—home, work or internet—the need to protect one's information contained in one's computer file system, is stronger than ever. The mere act of turning on a laptop in more and more public places (soon entire US metropolitan areas, such as the city San Francisco, which contain city-wide hotspots) joins that laptop to a network with thousands of other users. A network is designed to be a collaborative environment, so the capability of making one's files accessible to others, is included in most operating systems. When an operating system, such as Windows XP®, is Installed, it automatically creates “shares”. Shares are folders on the device itself which can be accessed over a network. Some standard shares are designated “C$” and “Admin$”—which are theoretically opened for a network administrator in a corporate environment, through which the administrator can access the individual device to install files and backup information. In addition to these out-of-the-box shares, many users create their own shares to share files and work, both in work and home environments. Additionally, applications—both rogue and legitimate—can create shares on a client device with or without the knowledge of the user. A file share has user rights associated with it. In order to access a share, proper user credentials need to be presented. However, in many cases “guest accounts” are allowed to access shares, in which case the passwords are either “weak” (i.e. easy to guess as in 123) or are blank. One way for User A to access User B's file system, is via UNC (Universal Naming Convention), whereby the target computer's name (NetBIOS or network name) or IP address (Internet Protocol, a 32-bit number, normally expressed as four “octets” in a “dotted decimal number” as in “192.168.1.10”) is entered followed by the name of the shared folder. For example, User A's typing “\\UserB's_work_XP\C$” or “\\192.168.1.10\c$”, on device A, may grant User A access to Device B's file system. Once access to a shared folder or files is granted, a device is being accessed remotely and the user's private files may be read and copied. File sharing may be transparent to a user of a device whose files are shared. File sharing can be created and instantiated by rogue applications without the knowledge of the user. A user's device may simultaneously be on more than one network or be on a network bridged to other networks, unbeknownst to the user, potentially providing access to the user's device to many computers on those networks.